Web Site Advertising Policy Position Paper

Web Site Advertising Policy Position Paper

I. Background and Current Policy

II. Issues

III. Definitions

IV. Institutions Prohibiting Advertising

V. Sponsorship

VI. Institutions Permitting Limited Advertising

VII. Hyperlinks

VIII. Proposed Advertising Policy

I. Background and Current Policy

In 1998, the University's Network-based Information Systems Committee (N-BIS), chaired by Louise Dudley, approved a non-advertising policy for the University of Virginia's Web site. In 2002, the committee voted to seek cabinet-level approval for this policy.

As part of this process, a search was made of the 62 peer institution members of the Association of American Universities. As far as can be determined, none of the institutions has advertising on its Web site. Four of these peer institutions (the University of Arizona, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Texas) have posted policies allowing limited advertising on their Web pages.

Current Policy

Following is the text of the current Advertising Policy as approved by N-BIS:

Consistent with University and state policy on the appropriate use of equipment, the University’s Web site (signified by the address "virginia.edu" or within the range of Internet protocol addresses assigned to the University of Virginia) cannot be used for commercial, non-mission-related purposes.

In practice, this means that advertising space cannot be sold at any level of the Web site. "Advertising" includes any situation in which the University or one of its units receives payment in exchange for a link or brand placement on a University Web page.

Links to commercial vendors may be made only in the following situations:

The logo or graphic represents licensed software on which a core function of the page is based, e.g., Netscape, Adobe Acrobat Reader, RealAudio, VeriSign.

The logo or link is to a vendor or other entity with a separately contracted relationship to provide services to the University, e.g., ARAmark, Fidelity Insurance, Nike.

Within a unit's Web site, a logo or link is displayed at the second level or below to acknowledge support of the unit's mission-related activities. Such logos or links are deemed to be recognition of corporate or other external sponsorship; payment may not be accepted for that link or logo. Examples of pages that might include such acknowledgments include University Career Services and those of sponsored academic activities, such as the Center for Politics.

The text link provides information for educational or other mission-related purposes and the University has received no consideration for incorporating that link.

In all cases, the design of departmental or unit pages that incorporate commercial links must be consistent with established graphic and placement standards for University Web pages. (See guidelines for Web design, http://www.virginia.edu/webpagestandards.html.) For example, commercial logos or display material may not be placed in the "banner" area, roughly the top quarter of a page.

Links to sponsors or other corporate recognition on a unit's home page (i.e., the third level off the University home page) will not be allowed except under special circumstances considered on a case-by-case basis by the N-BIS editorial board. Such examples might be the University Bookstore or the University Press selling its own merchandise or U.Va. Athletics.

University departments or units with Web sites based on non-University servers must comply with the terms of this policy in order to be linked from the University's home page structure.

II. Issues

Primary issues recognized in the development of advertising policy include the potential for conflict of interest and for conflict with institutional mission. MIT's policy includes the following statement: "Advertising and commercial promotion raise questions of conflict of interest, neutrality, and freedom from influence. Additionally, such advertising is considered to be a visual distraction on web sites from MIT's mission of education and research."

If advertising is defined specifically to mean paid advertising, or space offered on a Web page to an outside party for the purpose of promoting a particular product, service, trade, or business, the issue of Unrelated Business Taxable Income becomes important. The University of Texas System's "Guidelines for Web Site Solicitations" provides a thorough treatment of the issue with particular attention and reference to the issue of Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI). According to their guidelines, advertising income always comes under the UBTI heading and, as such, is strictly regulated by university authorities.

Other issues include size of logos, banners, or other advertising devices, and any text included as description.

III. Definitions

The following definitions should be considered very general and applicable to this discussion only. They are not intended to be definitions for the purpose of formulating policy.

University of Virginia Web page: A page created or maintained by or on behalf of the University of Virginia or an office, department, or division of the University of Virginia and located within the University of Virginia's information technology environment.

Hyperlink or hypertext link: A logo, text, or other identifier incorporating a link to a Web site external to the University of Virginia, placed on a U.Va. Web page without compensation.

Sponsorship: A logo, text, or other identifier incorporating a link to a Web site external to the University of Virginia, placed on a U.Va. Web page to acknowledge donation of services, products, or financial or research support to the University of Virginia or an office, unit, center, department, or division of the University of Virginia.

Advertising: A logo, text, or other identifier incorporating a link to a Web site external to the University of Virginia, placed on a U.Va. Web page in exchange for remuneration, where that placement is intended to promote a service or product offered by the entity's Web site for a commercial purpose.

Banner ad: A typically rectangular advertisement placed on a Web site, above, below, or to the side of the site's main content area.

IV. Institutions Prohibiting Advertising

Excerpts from online policies prohibiting advertising, as posted on peer institution Web sites, are shown below.

MIT:

"Third-party advertising or commercial promotion of non-MIT entities is not allowed on the MIT network or on MIT web sites. Advertising and commercial promotion raise questions of conflict of interest, neutrality, and freedom from influence. Additionally, such advertising is considered to be a visual distraction on web sites from MIT's mission of education and research."

University of Colorado-Boulder:

"To protect the educational nature of CU-Boulder web sites, and to preserve their primary role in support of the mission of the university, advertising is prohibited on www.colorado.edu, and permitted elsewhere only as authorized by an 'e-business review.' ... Co-branding, hyperlinked logos, link exchanges, and associate, affiliate, and referral programs are among the items that will be considered advertising if compensation is exchanged or anticipated. Text links provided for informational purposes or as part of a comprehensive list of sources will not be considered advertising unless the purpose is to promote a product or service."

University of Chicago:

"The web server is in the '.edu' non-commercial domain, so while you may post links to commercial web sites, you may not accept advertising or conduct non-University related business."

New York University:

"No person may include in a Web page any advertising materials or other materials relating to business or commercial activities of such person or any third person."

V. Sponsorship

Advertising is distinguished, in most cases, from sponsorship. The University of Arizona provides this definition of sponsorship: "'Sponsorship' means the provision of money, goods or services by another party to support a University of Arizona project or activity without promotion of that party or its goods or services being the principal purpose. Acknowledgment of such support may or may not be a condition of the support." Berkeley includes the following within its "allowable forms of acknowledgment": "sponsor logos and slogans that do not contain comparative or qualitative descriptions of the sponsor's products, services, facilities, or companies; value-neutral descriptions, including displays or visual depictions of a sponsor's product line or services."

Use of value-neutral descriptions appears to be particularly important. For example, a logo-link to Cisco Systems with the only text being "Cisco Systems" seems to be acceptable. However, a logo-link with text such as the following would be prohibited: "Cisco Systems: The Answer to All Your Network Needs."

The University of Arizona offers examples of "acceptable and unacceptable web support acknowledgment" (advertising, sponsorship) on their policy page entitled "Acknowledgment and Advertising on University of Arizona Web Pages."

VI. Institutions Permitting Advertising

The institutions nominally accepting advertising have strict guidelines for such advertising, including the types of products or services that may be advertised and the size, content, and placement of any advertising. Certain types of advertising are widely prohibited, including advertising for cigarettes or other tobacco products, alcohol, sexual services and adult entertainment venues; gambling services or venues; and firearms.

Excerpts from the policies of the four universities whose policies do not, in all cases, preclude advertising are shown below:

University of Arizona:

"Any University administrative units ... may sell advertising on their web pages only to the extent that current University policy would allow such advertising in print media ..."

University of California-Berkeley:

"Examples of acceptable promotional strategies for these activities include: Advertisements as part of an instructional program or advertising which serves an 'informational function,' as opposed to providing a means of stimulating demand for products ..."

University of Minnesota:

"Selling of online advertising space ... to non-University entities is acceptable only under strict guidelines. ... In general, and with respect to preserving the University of Minnesota's reputation for academic independence and integrity, the University expressly chooses to limit such advertising on the Web. Banner advertising on University of Minnesota Web pages is strictly forbidden."

University of Texas:

"Paid Advertising may only propose a bona fide commercial transaction, or promote a service, facility or product offered by the advertiser. ... All Paid Advertising shall be appropriate in size, content and placement in relation to the compensation received by the UT System or the component institution for the Paid Advertising."

VII. Hyperlinks

It is important to consider two issues with use of hyperlinks: (1) implied endorsement and (2) text description relative to a hyperlink. Endorsement may be implied solely by the inclusion of a hyperlink.

Text description of a hyperlink should be value-neutral. Acceptable language might include: "For more information: [link]." Unacceptable language: "Check out this great Web site. [link]"

VIII. Proposed Advertising Policy

Following is the text of the current advertising policy as approved by N-BIS. Proposed additions are in bold and red.

Links to commercial vendors may be made only in the following situations:

- The logo or graphic represents licensed software on which a core function of the page is based, e.g., Netscape, Adobe Acrobat Reader, RealAudio, VeriSign.

- The logo or link is to a vendor or other entity with a separately contracted relationship to provide services to the University, e.g., ARAmark, Fidelity Insurance, Nike.

- Within a unit's Web site, a logo or link is displayed at the second level or below to acknowledge support of the unit's mission-related activities. Such logos or links are deemed to be recognition of corporate or other external sponsorship; payment may not be accepted for that link or logo. Examples of pages that might include such acknowledgments include University Career Services and those of sponsored academic activities, such as the Center for Politics.

- The text link provides information for educational or other mission-related purposes and the University has received no consideration for incorporating that link.

- In all cases, the design of departmental or unit pages that incorporate commercial links must be consistent with established graphic and placement standards for University Web pages. (See guidelines for Web design, http://www.virginia.edu/webpagestandards.html.) For example, commercial logos or display material may not be placed in the "banner" area, roughly the top quarter of a page.

- Links to sponsors or other corporate recognition on a unit's home page (i.e., the third level off the University home page) will not be allowed except under special circumstances considered on a case-by-case basis by the N-BIS editorial board. Such examples might be the University Bookstore or the University Press selling its own merchandise or U.Va. Athletics. The link should go to the home page of the entity's Web site and, wherever possible, links should not go to pages on which products or commercial services are offered for sale. The logo, text, or graphic should not include any qualitative or comparative language or descriptions of the non-University party's products, services, facilities, or company, including but not limited to price information, inducement to purchase, endorsements, savings, or value.

Hyperlinks/Hypertext

It is recognized that, in support of the University's mission, it may often be helpful to link to Web sites external to the University. Such links should in no way imply endorsement of products or services offered by the entity. Any descriptive text accompanying the link should be value-neutral. Acceptable language might include: "For more information: [link]." Unacceptable language: "Check out this great Web site [link]."

Particularly in cases where a group of external hyperlinks is included, the following language is recommended for inclusion: Links to Web sites external to the University of Virginia should not be considered endorsement of those Web sites or any information contained therein.

University departments or units with Web sites based on non-University servers must comply with the terms of this policy in order to be linked from the University's home page structure.